When the Hunted is a Friend
by wolfairer
Summary: Based in old China. Kiku Honda is one of the best assassins in the Eastern World and is ordered by the Emperor of China to hunt down a pirate. Kiku took the job, but it's not as easy as he thought when he finds out that he knows the pirate captain. AsaKiku inside and yaoi so don't read if you don't like it.


**Hi Wolfairer here, so I wanted to take a break from my Hetaoni story and my friend, Japan asked me to write an AsaKiku for him which I agreed to since I thought that he needed something to cheer him up with. I should warn you anyone that reads this that there is a small rant about religion so please I do not wish to offend anyone, but I believe that England would say something like this. Anyway this is for you Japan so I hope you enjoy it. Anyway I do not own Hetalia, that lovely honour belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz. Anyway human names are used in this story so I will put what each characters name is for people that don't know them.**

**Kiku Honda - Japan**  
**Yao Wang - China**  
**Arthur Kirkland - England**  
**Kaoru Wang - Hong Kong**  
**Francis Bonnefoy - France**  
**Emil Steilsson - Iceland**

In the kingdom of China there was a young man that was leaving the town that was near the ocean and was slowly heading to the large temple. The Temple was located at the top of a steep hill so that it was looking down at the kingdom below. This was due to the fact that the Emperor of China lived there.

The man that was heading there looked to be in his early twenties and the young man was dressed in an emerald green kimono which was tied around him by a black cloth belt. The black belt was also holding a katana sword in it. The sword had a golden handle with a black piece of fabric wrapped around it so the user had a firmer grip on the weapon. The young man was also wearing a black overall so that it was able to hide the sword he was carrying. The male was also wearing sandals on his feet. He had jet black hair that was just long enough to cover his ears, he also had dark chocolate brown eyes that stood out a lot due to his skin being milky white.

Finally the young adult had reached the temple and walked closer to the entrance to see a solo figure stood there at the door. Once he was close enough to the figure the young man bowed slightly to the other. he then stood straight and looked at the man in front of the door. "The Emperor has been waiting for you. Please follow me."

With that stated the guard turned around and started to head in through the door into the temple. The other man slowly followed the guard and looked around once inside the building.

There was many different armours that used to be used in wars from long ago, the jade green walls were also covered in paintings of the formers rulers of China. Finally at the end of the long corridor there were large double red doors that had a Chinese dragon on them, which the young man requested to be the crest of the royal family. At the side of the doors stood two more guards.

The guard that was leading the black haired Asian, nodded to the two and the pair slowly started to push the doors open. The guard turned around to face the man and stated to him "You may enter."

With that the brown eyed man stood up as straight as he could without it hurting himself and slowly glided across the floor and into the room. Once he was clear of the door, the two guards started to close them once again. The room was a ruby red colour and all over the walls were golden patterns of large dragons and phoenixes which looked like they were dancing across the walls. The young Asian was in awe of the patterns on the wall.

The floor was tiled with green tiles, however there was a long piece of carpet that lead from the door and up to the throne. The throne was the same colour as the dragons and phoenixes on the wall, there was also precious jewels embedded in the throne like rubies and emeralds. The throne was also occupied by someone sitting in it.

The man sat upon the throne was dressed in a bright red duangua, which had golden fabric at the end of the sleeves, the edge of the collar and also at the bottom of the shirt as well. The sleeves also seemed to be too long for him due to the red fabric covering his hands so that they were not visible. The finely dressed person before the young man was also wearing bright white trousers which seemed to be extremely tight on his legs, he wore black shoes on his feet. The man sat in the throne seemed to be a few years older then the other. The man had vivid brown eyes that seemed to shine in the light and because of his pale complexion his eyes seemed to stand out more. The man also had dark brown hair that was long enough that it would frame his face, however the man had it tied back in a ponytail.

Eventually, once the black haired Asian was in front of the man who was sat on the outstanding throne, he bowed slightly to him to show his respect to the royal.

The royal Asia looked up and down at the man stood in front of him and stated to him "It's about time you got here, Kiku. It's not nice to leave me waiting aru."

The black haired man, who was known as Kiku, stood up straight and replied "My humble apologies. The ship I was on to get here was delayed due to a storm. Please forgive me, your majesty."

The other stood up from his throne and added "It's fine Kiku. I knew that there would have be a reason for your lateness aru, but please just call me Yao."

"I must decline your majesty, after all you are the ruler of this land and I am nothing more then a working man."

Yao could not help at Kiku's words, which shocked the kimono wearing Asian.

Finally, once Yao stopped himself from laughing he chuckled out to Kiku "Now, now Kiku, don't be so modest you and I both know you are the best samurai that was ever trained. Now you are also the best assassin too aru."

Kiku let a small smile show on his lips. "Yes, but why is it you wished to see me. In case you did not know, I was back in my homeland of Japan."

Yao's face suddenly went serious, which scared Kiku by the raw emotion that Yao was emitting from himself. "Yes, well I guess I should get down to it aru. We are having some problems with the shipments coming and going from the docks. See the problem is that the ships keep getting raided by a group of pirates for the last few months. The whole country is suffering and it's my job to stop this from happening to my people. I was hoping that you would find the captain of the pirates and capture or kill him aru. This way the other pirates that were following him would probably break up and leave the country's ocean."

Kiku looked at Yao and replied to the emperor "I except the job. However the first things I will need to know is the last place the captain was seen and also I will need to know what the man looks like."

Yao smiled at the assassin. " I already have that information for you aru. He was seen on the docks early this morning and here, this will give you an idea what he looks like aru."

Yao handed Kiku a battered up piece of paper that what discoloured and also had rips and tears in it. Kiku looked down at the paper to see that it was a wanted poster. On it was an image of the man how was now Kiku's target, but when Kiku saw the picture, he could not shake the feeling that the man was familiar for some reason. Kiku looked away from the image and looked at his employer then stated to him "You will have him before sunset, your majesty."

With that Kiku headed out to leave the temple and to go and earn his next wage from Yao, but capturing his target.

(-o-) (-o-) (-o-)

On the dock stood a young man, which stood out a lot in the Asian country. This was mostly due to the fact that he had short blonde hair that looked like it could not be tamed by the man. however most of his hair was covered by a large black hat that has a huge glistening white feather sticking out of it on the right side. The hat also helped to hide two very large, bushy eyebrows underneath them which were hovering above a pair of dark green eyes that always seemed to be scanning the docks watching everyone that was walking past him and also anything that moved as well. The blonde was wearing a white dress shirt that matched the colour of the feather. Over the top of the shirt that man was also wearing a blood red coat that reached past below his knees. The coat had black cuffs on the end of each sleeve and the collar was also black, which had golden patterns on them that shined whenever the sun hit them right. The man was also wearing black gloves that seemed to be tight on the owner's skin, however did not seem to bother them. His trousers were also black and seemed to be tight due to his leg muscles being shown, he also wore black boots that had a small heel, the boots also just reached above his knees. The man had his arm folded across his chest and quietly mumbled to himself in a thick British accent. "Where the bloody hell are they? "If someone looked into his eyes they would see that anger was slowly taking over all the other emotions that were in them.

Kiku was watching the man from behind a large crate and once the man turned his back to Kiku, the Asian wrapped a piece of black cloth around his face so that everything below his eyes was covered. Slowly Kiku decided to move out of his hiding spot and started to walk towards his target.

The man turned slightly to see that Kiku is walking up to him and the man's eyes close slightly to see what the other was up to.

Once Kiku reached the pirate he did not stop and walked straight past him. Then, once Kiku felt the other's eyes no longer on him, he turned quickly towards the man and at the same time drew out his katana to hit him. However Kiku's weapon did not meet flesh, instead it met another sword which slightly shocked Kiku. He looked up slightly at the taller man and saw that the pirate was wearing a smug smirk on his lips, Kiku got the feeling that the other knew he was going to do something like he did. Kiku just glared at the other and pushed himself away from him and swipes at the blonde's chest.

However the pirate was fast enough to get out of the katana's reach and took a swing at the assassin. Kiku quickly met the other's sword with his own and the two started to share blow after blow trying their best to hit the other, however they dodged the attack or stopped it with their own weapon.

Kiku did not know it, but the Englishman was just toying with him and soon he started to grow bored with the other and when Kiku came running at the blonde the man just hit Kiku's katana with as much strength he could and the Asian was unable to keep a firm hold on it. The sword flew out of Kiku's hand and slid across the floor, when he was about to go after it he felt a tip of a sword being pressed to the middle of his chest. Kiku looked at the pirate to see that once again he was smirking at him, which made the shorter man angry slightly. "On your knees." Commands the blonde victor.

Kiku had no other choice, but to listen and slowly lowered himself on to his knees. The pirate's sword never left Kiku's chest, but once he was kneeling down the blonde lifted his sword slightly so that is was hovering above the cloth which Kiku was using to hide his face. "Let's get rid of that thing so that I can see your pretty face before it leaves your body."

Before Kiku got chance to protested against the pirate's order, the cloth left his face and exposed itself for the pirate to see. Kiku shocked by the pirate's movements looked up to him with hatred radiating itself out of his body at the man that was about to end his life.

However the Asian was shocked to see that the smirk was no longer on the pirates face, instead the man's emerald green eyes were wide open and staring at Kiku in amazement. The man's mouth was also slightly open too.

Kiku's glare quickly disappear from his feature and was replaced with a look of confusion. He was about to question the pirate to see what was wrong, but the pirate beat him by gently saying "K-Kiku? Is it really you?"

The assassin was surprised by the blonde knowing his name "How do you know my name?" Questioned the Asian. Kiku did not even realise that the sword was no longer pressed against his chest and just waited for the being to answer his question.

"Kiku, it's me, Arthur, Arthur Kirkland."

The black haired man recognised the name, however he was unable to place it in his life. Then the captain added "Wait, Kiku. You used to call me Asa."

With that Kiku's memories of his childhood friend came back to him and he was able to places the similarities that his old friend and he assigned target had in common. Kiku was amazed that he was even here, but before he was able to say anything to Arthur there was a loud thump which caused Arthur to groan and then his body just crumbled to the ground. Kiku looked up to see what happened and saw that one of the guards from the temple was stood behind Arthur's body. Kiku knew that he could not longer do anything to prevent Arthur from being taken to the temple. Kiku had to watch the guard place old rusting chains around Arthur's wrists and his form being thrown into a carriage.

(-o-) (-o-) (-o-)

Arthur had a large throbbing coursing it's way through his head and the blonde did not understand why. Then suddenly images of Kiku ran through he head and Arthur remember what took place at the dock with his old friend. Arthur quickly opened his eyes, hoping that Kiku was somewhere so he would be able to talk to him, however he was met by an awful sight.

Arthur's wrists were chained up and held up above his head, he was no longer wearing his hat or his bright red coat and his sword was nowhere in site. Arthur looked around the room to see moody grey stone walls that were covered in mould from the damp which covered the stone. The floor which looked to be made of concrete was also a grey colour, however the floor was covered in hay so that it was able to provide a small amount of comfort for the prisoner.

Arthur knew that he needed to get out of the cell and find Kiku, but before he was able to think of anything he was brought out of his thoughts by a voice "Well you were easier to capture then I thought aru. Now I have the Great and Powerful Captain Arthur Kirkland chained up in on of my cells." Yao gloated in front of the other in the cell.

Arthur gives the Emperor a small smirk and states calmly "Oh, so you must be the one in charge. I must thank you for all the wonderful treasures you sent me and my men by ship."

Yao quickly lost his temper at the pirate for saying something like that and glared at him.

Suddenly there was a loud cracking noise and pain coursed it's way through Arthur's chest, which caused him to hiss slightly under his voice. Arthur looked up at the other to see that the man was holding a handle to a long, thin, black whip.

Yao then yells at Arthur "How dare you speak to me like that! You need to learn manners aru! And I believe I will be able to do that!"

Yao then hit the Brit with the whip yet again. Arthur, this time was able to hold in his cry of pain. This just seemed to cause the emperor to get even angrier and hit the man in chain again and kept on hitting him with the deadly weapon.

Arthur tried his best to hold in any noises that wished to leave his lips. This was because he did not Yao to get the satisfaction from hearing himself in pain.

Eventually the torture Yao was doing to the blonde stopped when the cell door opened. There stood another young man that looked to be around the same age as Kiku. However the man was dressed very similar to Yao. However his ruby red duangua had black collar and sleeve ends unlike Yao's, which had gold. The newcomer was also wearing black trousers instead of white, however the man was wearing the same shoes as the emperor's. He had shoulder length hair which was a dark brown colour and light brown eyes. The man also had a pair of large eyebrows, however they were not as bushy as Arthur's.

Yao turned slightly so that he was able to see the newcomer and addressed him "What do you want, Kaoru? I'm busy aru."

The young man known as Kaoru bowed slightly to the emperor and said "Well you are needed by someone, so I am not sorry."

Yao let out a small sigh at the other and replied "Fine, I'm coming aru."

Then Yao turned back around to face Arthur and stated to the pirate captain "I will be back later, Pirate."

With that Yao walked out of the prison cell Arthur was being kept in. Arthur felt a pair of eyes on him and looked up to see that Kaoru was still stood there looking at him. Kaoru's face hardly changed its expression, however his eyes seemed to soften slightly at the chained man. Kaoru then turned around and left the room and locking the door behind him.

Arthur moved so he could check his body to see how much damage the other had done to him, but once he tried to sit up a tearing pain shot all the way through the man's body. Arthur then decided against it and thought that the best thing for him to do is rest until he felt a little bit better and could try to escape. Arthur tried to make himself as comfortable as possible and slowly the Brit closed his eyes.

(-o-) (-o-) (-o-)

Kiku was once again stood in the throne room within the temple. The young Japanese man was walking up and down the room, waiting for the Emperor to appear, so that Kiku would be able to talking to him about Arthur.

Finally the Blood red doors opened and Yao walked through with Kaoru just a couple of steps behind him. Yao spots the younger Asian and smiles at him. "Ah, I should have know it would have been you, Kiku."

Yao walked past the other and made his way to the royal throne. Once Yao was there he reached down and picked up a small, light brown bag, Once Yao had hold of it he started to walk back down to Kiku and handed the bag to him.

Kiku carefully opened the bag and glanced inside to see that it was full of gold, shiny coins. Kiku looked up to the bag and ready to speak to the other, but Yao beat him to it. "Thank you for your services aru. The whole payment is in there."

Kiku shakes his head slightly, which caused the Chinese man to looked at him with confusion. Kiku closed the bag up again and held it out for Yao to take. Then Kiku calmly said to Yao "Arigatō your majesty, but I must decline this payment. You see I wish for you to allow me to take Arthur with me."

Silence filled the whole room and the pair just looked at the other. Then the silence was suddenly broken when laughing was heard coming from Yao.

Kiku looked at the man, quite shocked due to the sudden outburst of laughter and also did not understand why he was laughing in the first place.

Eventually the Emperor was able to control his laughter and chuckled out "That's funny, Kiku. I did not even realise that you had a sense of humour in you."

"I-I was not joking. I would wish for you to let me take Arthur with me."

Yao's face suddenly went very serious and he slightly glared at the smaller man and stated "Look here aru. This is a wanted man and has caused a lot of problems for me and my people, and now that I finally have him do you really think that I am going to just let you take him so he can damage my land even more? Well I will tell you now, that is never going to happen aru."

China pushes the bag of money, that was in Kiku's hand, away from him so it is closer to Kiku and continues speaking "Just take the money and leave this place now."

Kiku bows slightly to the Emperor and replies with "Hai." Then Kiku started to walk out of the room.

Suddenly a hand grabbed Kiku's wrist and Kiku see that it was the guard that followed Yao into the throne room. The guard commanded "Follow me." Then slowly started to pull Kiku the direction the guard wished to go.

Kiku just let himself be dragged by the other and assumed that he was leading him out of the temple. However Kiku realised that the guard was actually leading him deeper into the temple and then slowly the pair started to walk down some stairs. Kiku looked at the other and asked "Excuse me, but who are you and where exactly are you taking me?"

"My names Kaoru and I am taking you to the pirate, there is no need to thank me though."

Kiku blinked in shock and thanked the other Asian anyway. Finally after a couple more minutes of walking down a long corridor, Kaoru suddenly came to a stop, this caused Kiku to nearly walk into him. Kaoru let go of the assassin's wrist and turned slightly to see him. "This is it." Kaoru took a set of keys out of his pocket and looked over them to grab the right key that would open the cell door. Once Kaoru had unlocked it he spoke to Kiku again. "You will not have long."

"Hai, Arigatō Kaoru." Kiku slowly stepped into the cell and once in Kaoru shut the door behind him.

Kiku looked around the damp, smelly cell and then he spotted Arthur. Kiku saw that the captured captain looked like he was uncomfortable, but Kiku then laid his eyes upon Arthur's chest that was now hardly covered by the white dress shirt. Kiku saw that the shirt was now stained a reddish pink and saw that the cause of it was large slashes across the man's well built chest.

"Arthur." Kiku whispered out with out realising he spoke.

The voice caused the chained man to snap his eyes open and look up. Arthur expected to see Yao, however he was relived and happy that he laid his eyes on Kiku instead. The blonde sends a small smile to Kiku and says quietly. "Kiku, I'm so happy to see you."

The small black haired man slowly made his way over to the other, and once at Arthur's side, he sat down at Arthur's left. "Gomen'nasai Arthur. This is all my fault." Kiku whispers out.

Arthur looks at him an shakes his head. "This is not your fault. You didn't realise it was me."

"Well I should have. You still look like the young boy from back then."

"Kiku, there is no point blaming yourself, after all the world is a big place. it was a small chance that you would get hired to assassinate me."

"Especially since I thought you were dead."

Arthur looked at Kiku with complete shocked and did not understand what the other meant. "Why did you think that?"

Kiku looked down at his lap and replies quietly "I heard that the ship you and your father was on got raided by pirates."

"Well you heard right, but the Captain was looking for new recruits and kept a selected few of us, which included me and my father. I enjoyed it, and I made a couple of friends while on there, but a couple of years after joining the ship it was attacked. There was only me and my friend Francis that lived. I had to watch the invaders kill my Father while he was trying to protect us. From that day I decided to make the Emperors of this land pay for what they did to my father and make his life a living hell."

Once Arthur finished telling him what happened to him, he looked over at Kiku, waiting for the other to say something. When Kiku finally absorbed everything Arthur just told him Kiku looked at the other. Vivid green met dark brown "W-why did you not come back?" Stuttered out Kiku.

Arthur was taken back by the other's question and answered "I-I didn't want to drag you into a world of crime. It's not the best place to be and can be a dangerous place."

"Arthur, once word of the ship you were on was raided and there was no survivors, that I thought you were died, I refused to leave the house for nearly a year. Finally I decided that I would study the way of the samurai. However once I reached the age of sixteen someone offered me money for me to kill someone. Eventually my name and what I did spread around Japan and even reached China, however my parents were upset with what I did and felt that I had dishonoured them and made me leave. They saw me as nothing, but a cold hearted killer and they are correct. I would kill or torture anyone as long as I got a good enough payment. I even nearly killed you, had you not of disarmed me."

Arthur gave Kiku a small smile which Kiku returned and the pirate stated "I bet you're happy I did now."

"Hai, but now you are captured, which is not good either."

The pair fell into silence, which was broken by the blonde "I missed you Kiku."

"Hai, I missed you too, Asa."

Arthur could not help, but smile at the old nickname Kiku gave to him as a child. Kiku slowly started to lean in closer to Arthur without realising what he was doing. Arthur started to do the same until their lips were only mere centimetres from the other's. The pair could feel the other's breath gently stroking the others cheeks and the feeling became too much for Kiku and he pressed his lips onto the Arthur's. Kiku was surprised to feel that the Arthur's lips were soft and smooth. Kiku then gently placed one of his hands on Arthur's side and gently stroked it up and down. This caused sparks of pleasure to course through Arthur's body.

This Brit decided that he wanted to deepen the kiss and opened his mouth so that his tongue could stroke Kiku's lips begging them to open to let it in Kiku's mouth.

Kiku could not help, but moan slightly and Arthur took advantage of Kiku's open mouth and pushed his tongue into it. Kiku decided to rub the intruding tongue with his own and the pair started to have a heated battle over who would dominate the kiss. Arthur's body shuddered due to the pleasure, which was helping him forget about the marks that was littered all over his chest.

Suddenly Kiku broke the kiss and was gulping in the air to get oxygen back into his body. With the needed substance making its way back to Kiku's brain the Asian realised what had just happened between the pair of them. Kiku quickly go to his feet and stutterers out "I-I'm." However before Kiku finished his sentence he turned around and left the cell.

Arthur was left in there completely confused about why Kiku suddenly up and left him and then he realised why. Kiku did not mean to kiss him and was confused and upset about what he did.

(-o-) (-o-) (-o-)

The night was covering the kingdom of China in a thick layer of black, but the stars could still be seen in the star and a full moon was also shining over China too. There was a lot of people out in the town having a night out with their friend or lover.

However Kiku was sat on his bed in the hotel room, he did not wish to see all the happy couple out with the person close to them, while he was having a battle within himself over what happened between him and Arthur early that day. Kiku knew that he was not thinking properly while there with the blonde pirate and his heart was beating harder and faster when his eyes were on the other, but he did not know why his heart seemed to skip a beat whenever he thought of Arthur. Kiku was also slight scared due to the fact that the kiss the pair shared did not even disgust him, but Kiku was hoping for more of them.

Kiku shook his head and stood up from the bed and walk over to the window and peered out of it. The Asian could not help but look up at the temple that was above him and slowly started to think of Arthur once again. Then suddenly Kiku slammed the window with the palm of his hands and he walked over and grabbed his black kimono and put it on over his white undershirt and boxers.

Once the kimono was securely on by the belt, Kiku picked up his katana off the table and place it in the belt. The young man then slipped on his shoes and left the hotel room and slowly made his way out of the hotel.

Finally, once Kiku was out, The black haired man looked up at the temple once again and started to make his way back up there. Kiku knew that he was unable to live Arthur in the hands of Yao and that only left the man with the option of breaking the blonde captain out of the temple.

Within a matter of minutes Kiku had reached the temple once again and looked towards the entrance to see that there was two guards there making sure no one enter the temple. Kiku hid himself in the shadows again and as quietly as possible got as close as he could to the two guards that were standing in his way to get to Arthur.

Suddenly with the speed of a cheetah, Kiku burst out of the shadows and drew his weapon and stabbed the guard that was closest to him, in the chest. While the other guard was trying to register what just happened, Kiku withdrew his sword out of the others chest and sliced the other guard across the throat. Kiku looked down at the two bodies that were crumpled on the floor and wiped his katana clean with the sleeve of his kimono.

Once Kiku decided the sword was clean enough he placed it back where it was and entered the building. Kiku was shocked to see that the temple seemed to be empty or guards and servants. Kiku started to walking deeper into the temple to try and find the steps that lead down to the cells and also Arthur.

After five more minutes of searching Kiku finally found the steps and was about t step down them when a voice came from behind him "If you are here for sight seeing, I can be your tour guide."

The black haired assassin spun around to see that it was Kaoru stood there with his arm folded against his chest. Kiku gave Kaoru a small nod and stated "I am here to collect Arthur. Are you going to help me, or will you try to stop me."

Kaoru just looked at Kiku with no emotions being emitted from his eyes. Kiku's hand slowly and tightly gripped his katana in case Kaoru was going to attack him.

However Kaoru just nodded to him and replied. "I will help you, Kiku."

With that Kaoru pushed himself past Kiku and started to make his way down the stairs. Kiku followed a few steps behind the other and Kaoru then said to Kiku "Arthur has been moved due to the Emperor wanting him to be beheaded tomorrow. At least you decided to get him out now instead of trying tomorrow."

Kiku did not reply and just quietly carried on following Kaoru. The pair quietly started to run and reached Arthur's holding cell. He was about to enter the room when Kaoru grabbed his arm and pull Kiku away from the door. Kiku was about to question the others action when the pair of them heard a voice coming from inside the cell. "I will ask you one more time aru. Why are you important to Kiku?"

Kiku realised that it was Emperor Yao. Then another voice spoke up and seemed to be straining to get the words out. "N-nothing. I ne-never met him be-fore today."

Kiku's heart ached due to the way Arthur seemed to be in so much pain. Then Yao yelled "You are lying to me!"

Kiku then heard Arthur grunt slightly in pain, but before he could heard anymore noises coming from the blonde within the cell, Kaoru grabbed the upper arm of Kiku's right arm and dragged him into the shadow and far enough away so that they were unable to hear anything. Kiku's heart was hitting his ribcage due to the fact that he did not know what was happening to Arthur. The even worse thing is that Kiku was desperate to run in there and stop the torture Arthur was going through, but he knew that if he did it would only make everything worse for Arthur and himself.

"Well? What is that pirate to you anyway?" Kaoru asked, breaking the silence the pair of them were in.

"Just a friend." Kiku replied quickly.

Kaoru was about to asked the Japanese man something else, but was stop when the door to the cell started to open. Yao walked out the cell and brushed himself down slightly. Kiku realised that the Emperor was dressed differently. Now Yao was dressed in a white duangua and dark red trousers. Yao still had the same shoes on. Yao looked over towards Kiku and Kaoru's hiding space, but did not seem to see them and slowly started to walk down the corridor that would lead the Emperor to the stairs.

Kiku waited, a little bit longer then he could bare, so that he was sure that Yao would not turn round and once sure he grabbed Kaoru's wrist and dragged him to Arthur's cell. Once there Kiku pushed Kaoru forcefully to the door and commanded "Open the door now."

"I was going to do it anyway." Kaoru stated to the other. The guard took out his keys once again and opened the cell down with the key.

However before Kaoru had the door completely open, Kiku pushed his way past him and entered the room. The cell looked similar to the other one Arthur was kept in, but the one difference was that there was no hay on the floor and you could see the grimy concrete instead. Kiku saw that Arthur was in chains once again, but this time the chains made the man stand up instead of letting him sit down. Kiku saw that Arthur was no longer wearing a shirt and was bare chested. There was also a lot more cuts and bruises on his skin. There was a rather large bruise on Arthur's neck that was a sickly yellow colour.

Kiku slowly took several steps closer to the pirate, however the motionless pirate did not move. Kiku called out the blonde's name, but again there was no movement. Kiku then realised that Arthur was just unconscious.

Kaoru walked past Kiku and towards the hanging form and unlocked the chains around Arthur's wrists. Kaoru grabbed Arthur before he hit the floor and to anyone not know what was going on it would appear the two men were hugging. This for some reason made Kiku angry about the way Kaoru was holding Kiku's childhood friend. Kiku went over to them and placed one of Arthur's arms around his neck and wrapped his own hand around the blonde's waist and pulled him up better.

Kaoru did the same as Kiku and once the two of them were sure they would not drop Arthur they left the prison cell and started to walk do the darken corridor to get to the stairs.

(-o-) (-o-) (-o-)

Finally the exit was in site of the two Asians and slowly they picked up there speed slightly, then the three of the was out of the dreaded temple.

"What took you so long aru?" A voice asked.

Kiku face drained of colour when that voice reached his ears. Kiku scanned the area in front of him and eventually his eyes laid upon the smirking Emperor.

Yao was stood a couple of metres away from Kiku and the others. Yao scanned the small group and saw Kaoru and addressed him. "I am surprised Kaoru. I didn't expect my younger brother to betray me."

Kiku nearly dropped Arthur at what Yao said about him and Kaoru. Kiku could not help but look at Kaoru then Yao and realised that the two of them did look similar to each other.

Kaoru just shrugged his shoulder at his brother and replied "Well it didn't say in my contract as your brother that I couldn't betray you."

"Very funny Kaoru, but you should know better then to do this aru. Now return the prisoner to his cell and I will forget about what took place tonight."

Kiku carefully removed himself from Arthur and made sure that Kaoru was able to hold him up. Then he stepped in front of the Arthur and Kaoru and drew out his katana. "I refuse to let you harm Arthur-san anymore. I Will not leave him here again."

Yao withdrew his own sword and replied "If you want to fight for him, then so be it aru."

With that Yao ran at Kiku and swung his sword at him. Kiku raised his own sword and the two metal weapons clanged together. Yao quickly removed his weapon and slashed at Kiku once again to try and hit his chest, however the black haired Asian quickly ducked and ran to the left, so that there was some space between him and Yao.

However Yao quickly followed Kiku, however before he could attack again Kiku tried to stab the Emperor. Yao was able to quickly moved out of the way, but Kiku kept going after the other and trying to hit him with an attack, but was unable to land one.

Meanwhile Kaoru watched the two former friends fighting and did not notice the injured pirate stirring. Arthur was in a lot of pain, but was relieved to feel that his arms were no longer being held up above his head. Arthur also realised that someone was holding him up right so that he was not laid on the floor. The Brit could feel the cold air hitting his body and realised that he must be outside for some reason, but he was just grateful that he was no longer in a prison cell. Arthur slowly started to open his emerald eyes so that he could look out at the world once again, but his body filled with horror and concern when he saw what was going on in front of him.

Yao was still dodging Kiku's sword and it looked like the smaller man was in control of the fight. Then Yao landed once again from a jump he did to avoid the katana and Kiku quickly started to make his way to Yao. Yao quickly swung his sword with all the strength he was able to gather and Kiku did not get the chance to stop swinging his sword as well and the pair of the swords met.

It happened so fast that Kiku in one second had his katana and the next it was sliding across the floor away from him. The assassin was about to go after it, but Yao placed the tip of his sword under Kiku's chin. Kiku's head was pushed up slightly by the sharp metal and he saw that Yao was wearing a large smile on his face. "I gave you a chance, aru. It was your choice to make it harder on yourself ."

Kiku closed his dark brown eyes, not wishing to see when the other was going to kill him and waited for the pain to start flowing through his body.

"No!" Yelled a voice which was thickly covered in a British accent. Arthur quickly separated himself from Kaoru and with as much strength as he could pull together he ran towards Kiku and Yao. Arthur knocked his whole body into Yao, who was moved away from Kiku a fraction. The assassin saw his chance and made his way to grab his katana sword.

Due to the force Arthur hit the Emperor with, the pirate was easily left breathless and was unable to stand on his feet due to the exhaustion and pain within his body. Arthur's knees buckled from underneath him and the blonde hit the floor with a loud thump.

Yao quickly got his balance back and turned to face Arthur. The Asian makes his way over to his prisoner. Once Yao was close enough to Arthur, he raised his sword in the air and glared down at the other. "You have been a thorn in my side long enough." Yao growled out.

Arthur did not even try to moving knowing that he would not be fast enough to get out of the way of the sharp metal of the sword. The Brit just waited patiently for death to find him at the hand of the son that took away his father.

Yao started to lower his sword towards Arthur, but then suddenly the weapon fell onto the ground with a loud clatter, then the owner of the weapon quickly followed hitting the ground face first.

Arthur did not understand what just happened in front of him and looked up and saw that Kiku was stood there panting and his forehead covered in a thin layer of swear. Arthur saw that his friend was also holding his sword, which fell to the ground once more.

Kiku stepped over the Emperor and got closer to Arthur, once he was close enough Kiku then gently embraced the other in a hug. Arthur hissed out quietly to himself due to the pain that shot through the cuts, however he still hugged the other back with a small smile on his face.

The pair stayed like that for a minute, when Arthur gently pushed Kiku away from him. Kiku was confused about why the other man did that, but before he got chance to share his question, Arthur captured Kiku's lips in a kiss. Sparks of electricity was sent through the assassin's body and he started to melt in the kiss and kissed the pirate back carefully. Kiku could feel Arthur smiling into the kiss and the smaller man could not help, but smile as well. Athur was just about to try and deepen the kiss when there was a loud cough coming from behind him.

Kiku quickly pulled away from Arthur when he heard that and his cheeks were painted a light pink due to someone seeing what he was doing with the blonde. Kiku and Arthur looked to see that the person that cough was Kaoru "Sorry for cutting the moment short, but it would be a good idea to leave before Yao wakes up."

Kiku quickly got back onto his feet and nodded to Kaoru and bent down to place his sword back in his belt. "Hai, I agree."

Arthur goes to lift himself off from the ground, but once he was nearly on his feet pain shot through Arthur's abused body and the blonde yells out slightly and Kiku quickly grabbed Arthur before he landed on the ground again. "Kaoru, will you help me please." Kiku asked.

Kaoru made his way over to the Asian and Brit and helped Kiku to hold Arthur up. Once the pair thought then had a strong grip on the Englishman, the three of the started to walk back into the town. People that were still out stared at them it awe due to the fact that Arthur was still not wearing anything over his chest so his wounds were visible to everyone. The three of them where walking in silence for a good five minutes ignoring the looks they got off others, until Kaoru decided to break it. "Out of interest, where exactly are we going?"

"We are heading to the hotel I have been staying in." Kiku answered.

"Well you might be going there, but I am going back to my ship," Arthur stated.

"Asa, you are not up to a walk that far, besides your ship may no longer be there."

"Kiku, I want to go to my ship and if you won't help me I'll make my own way there."

Kiku let out a sigh of defeat and replied "Fine Asa, we will take you to the dock."

Kaoru and Kiku change their direction slightly and slowly the two Asians helped the pirate back to the docks. After, what seemed like twenty minutes of them walking the three men had finally arrived at the docks. They came to a stop and Kiku looked around to see different sized wooden boats tied up at the dock, and he had no clue if any of these ships even belonged to the pirate captain.

However before Kiku had the chance to as Arthur if any of these ships were his, Kiku spotted a figure walking off one of the largest wooden boats in the dock. The figure was wearing long, black boots, that had a rather large heel on them. He was also wearing tight, black trousers. The figure was wearing a white dress shirt that had the two buttons undone to show a fraction of his chest and also some chest hair. On top of the shirt he was wearing a light sky-blue coat with white cuffs and collar. He had ocean blue eyes that sparkled in the moonlight. The man also had long blonde hair which was tied back with a light blue ribbon. The being was also wearing a large hat that looked very similar to the one Arthur was wearing when Kiku first saw him. The man called out with his voice covered in a thick French accent "Arthur, is that you mon ami?"

Arthur looked up from the floor and saw the newcomer and yelled out the best he could "Francis!"

Francis quickly looked over to spot the three men and started to run towards them. Once Francis was close enough to see Arthur, the long haired blonde realised that his friend was in a lot of pain and then his saw the cause of it covering his chest. "Arthur, oh mon cher, what happened to you ?"

However before Arthur was able to reply Francis picked him up bridal style. Arthur was not happy with his first mate and yelled out "Frog, put me down!"

"No, not until you are in your cabin, I need to take a look at them cuts and make sure that they will not get infected."

With that Francis ran with Arthur still in his arms and ran onto the ship that Francis came off before.

The two Asians were left standing on the dock, Kiku completely confused over what just happened. Kaoru slowly turned around and starts to head back into the town. "Kaoru, where are you going?" Questioned Kiku.

"Well I thought I better go and get Emil and leave before Yao sends out a search party looking for us."

"Alright, well I wish you luck Kaoru. Please be careful."

"I will Kiku. Well I may see you around, but they again I may not." Kaoru stated, then he turned back around and started to walk back into town.

Kiku turned and looked towards the ship he knew that Arthur was taken on by Francis and he made his way onto the ship. Once Kiku was on he saw that the ship was completely empty and that there seemed to be no one on board. Kiku thought that he may have actually got onto the wrong ship. The Japanese man was about to walk back off it when he heard footsteps. Kiku turned slightly to the left to see Francis walking up the stairs from below deck.

The Frenchman was carrying large bandages and sponges. Francis carried on walking and nearly walked straight into Kiku, but the blonde quickly stopped. "Oh, I'm sorry mon ami, but I really need to get back to Arthur and see to his wounds."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"No mon ami. Just wait out here. I just need to focus on Arthur and sorry to say, but you would just distract me from what I am doing."

"Hai, I understand."

Francis started to make his way to the Captain's cabin that Arthur must have been it, but once he reached the door Francis turned around so that he was facing Kiku once again. "By the way, my name is Francis."

Kiku bowed slightly to the blonde Frenchman and replied "Kon'nichiwa, Francis. My name is Honda Kiku."

"Ahh, so you're Arthur's little love interest."

"Excuse me, but I do not understand."

"Oh, nothing mon ami. I best get back to Arthur now anyway."

Francis then opened the door and entered the room, leaving Kiku outside on the deck on his own. Kiku did not know what to do while he had to wait for Francis to make sure Arthur was ok. Kiku slowly walked over to the side of the huge ship and looked down at his reflection in the ocean's water. Kiku could see a small trail of blood on his forehead from a small cut he received from the fight with Yao. Kiku wiped the blood off with the back of his hand. Kiku slowly began to get lost in his thought after that, he wondered why he was still here, after all he knew that Arthur would be safe here with Francis, so there was no real reason for him to stay. However the thought of leaving Arthur upset him and he really did not wish to leave Arthur, due to the chance that they would never see each other again.

Kiku looked back down into the water and looked at himself once again. Suddenly Kiku spotted a reflection of a hand coming from behind himself. Kiku quickly drew his Katana and held it up against the other's throat.

"Sorry, I did not mean to scare you." Francis say while raising his hands in the air.

Kiku removed his weapon from the Frenchman's throat and bows again "Apologies, Francis. I did not realise that it was you."

"It's fine Kiku. I just came here to tell you that Arthur is asking for you and if you wish you can go and see him."

"Hai, thank you Francis."

Francis just nodded to the other and head back down bellow deck once again. Once Francis was out of sight Kiku let out a sigh and slowly and quietly made his way over to the dark, wooden door, which would lead him to Arthur. Kiku knocked on the door quietly and there was no answer. Kiku decided to open the door so he grabbed the handle and turned it until it popped open. Kiku gently pushed it open and looked inside, Kiku realised that the room was a lot bigger then what he thought it was .

The room was covered in rare fabrics and on the left side of the room was a large oak desk that had a small pile of books in the corner, and there was a large map opened that covered the whole table. There was several other scrolls scattered on top of the map. There was also a wooden chair next to the deck that had a red cushion on the bottom. On the other side of the room was a king size bed pushed up against the wall. It was covered in a large quilt which had a red sheet covering it. The red sheet was cover in a golden pattern of blossoming flowers on trees. There was also several large golden and red cushions and on the bed laid Arthur.

Arthur's chest was now completely bandaged up in the white material. The bandage however showed that some of the marks were still bleeding, due to the red liquid that was being absorbed into the material. Arthur looked over to the door to see the small man standing there. "Kiku, you can come in."

Kiku took the offer from Arthur and entered the room and shut the door behind him. Arthur moved slightly and patted the now free space on the bed. Kiku took the hint and made his way over to the other and sat down on the bed.

"I thought you left when Francis took me. I'm glad you didn't though." Arthur shared with Kiku.

"No, I wanted to make sure that you were alright and that there is no permanent damage."

"Well there maybe some scaring left of my chest, but that's nothing serious."

"That is good to know." Kiku said relieved.

There was silence then due to the pair not knowing what to say. Kiku broke it then by saying "Asa, Gomen'nasai for what happened. It is all my fault."

Arthur sighed "Kiku, we've been through this. It's not your fault, so please stop blaming yourself. After all I have been through worse during my time as a pirate."

"Hai, but you were harmed a lot through this."

"Kiku, please just forget about it, besides one good thing did come out of this."

"What is that?" Kiku questioned.

"I got to see you again."

Kiku's cheeks went a pale pink when Arthur said that and Kiku was not sure why they did. Kiku turned his head so that Arthur was unable to see his face and the room once again fell into silence. However once again Kiku broke it "I believe that I should leave you so that you are able to rest."

Arthur looked at Kiku and quickly replied "You aren't going anywhere. I haven't seen you for years, and I'm not about to let you leave my life again."

Kiku just gave Arthur a small apologetic smile and moved to stood up from the bed. Arthur was too quick for the other and the blonde grabbed Kiku's arm and pulled him back down onto the bed. Kiku easily lost his footing and he fell back on to the mattress with his back making contact with Arthur's legs. Arthur lifted himself up slightly and smirked down at the Asian. This caused Kiku to sit up quickly and scramble away from the other.

However Arthur saw the chance and grabbed Kiku's waist and pushed Kiku onto the bed easily, even though he was injured. Arthur moved himself so that he was straddling Kiku's delicate waist which the Asian made hard because he was thrashing his body around to try and stop Arthur from doing anything. After a couple more minute Arthur pinned Kiku down by holding his arms above his head.

Kiku stopped struggling and looked up at Arthur to see that he was smiling down at him, but the smile was full of love and care for the other which Kiku could not help but smile back at.

Arthur started to lean down towards the other. This movement caused Kiku to think that Arthur was going to kiss him, which filled the man with both fear and delight. However Arthur did not connect their lips together and instead lowered his lips near Kiku's right ear and gently whispered into it "I love you Kiku."

Kiku let out a small gasp and gently placed his hands on Arthur's shoulders and gently pushed him away from himself. Kiku sat up against the head board of the bed. Kiku's brown eyes never left Arthur's green eyes, which were filled with confusion and concern.

Kiku broke the eye contact by closing his eyes and sighing out in defeat. "Asa, you can not say words like that. It is not right, after all we are both males and I must marry a woman so that I can carry on my bloodline."

"Kiku, I know you think it's not right due to your culture and what you were taught by your parents, but surely marrying a woman that you don't actually have feelings for is worse, if you did that your life would just be one big lie. Besides you already said that your parents have disowned you, you deserve to be happy for once."

"Asa, I respect my religon."

"If your religion tells you it is wrong to be with the one person you truly love, then it's stupid. You should love whoever and get blessed for being true to yourself."

Kiku looked away from Arthur and look across at the desk in the room. Arthur gave the other chance to let what he said get through to him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Arthur, Kiku replied "You may be right Asa. After everything that has happened in my life, I have no family, no place in society and the only person I have left now is you. To be honest, you are the only person I wish to have in my life, and I do not care about the problems it may bring."

Arthur smiled to the other with the same emotions in his other smile before. Kiku offered the pirate a small smile back. The blonde slowly started to get closer to Kiku and then connected their lips together in a fluid motion. Kiku quickly started to kiss Arthur back and wrapped his arms around the pirate's neck. Arthur deepened the kiss by letting his tongue leave his mouth and gently touched Kiku's lips. The black haired man wasted no time with opening his mouth and soon the pair found themselves in a battle to see who would dominate the kiss.

The pair suddenly broke the heated moment to catch their breath, then once they were less breathless they jumped back into the kiss.

Kiku could feel his whole body starting to heat up due to the erotic activity him and Arthur were doing together. Arthur lowered Kiku so that he was once again laying down on the bed, while making sure that his mouth never left Kiku's. Once Kiku was under Arthur again, Kiku let his hands wonder down Arthur's back, but was left disappointed due to his hands touching nothing, but bandages.

While the smaller man was distracted, Arthur started to untie the belt for the kimono Kiku was wearing. Arthur finally got the knot undone and started to expose Kiku by opening up the kimono. Kiku removed his hands from Arthur's back and removed them from the sleeves of the clothing. Arthur broke the kiss so that he would be able to look at Kiku's exposed chest.

However the man's eyes were met with a white shirt which was cuddling Kiku's chest. Arthur let out a groan of despair and whined "Oh, come on!"

Kiku just smiled up at the blonde pirate and asks innocently "What is wrong, Asa?"

Arthur look at Kiku and replied "You know what's wrong. I'm taking this off."

Arthur started to push the white shirt up, but Kiku fought with him and pushed it back down, this caused the blonde to stop and say gently "Kiku, you need to trust me if this is ever going to work."

Kiku let go of the shirt and nodded to Arthur. Arthur did not wait to be told twice and quickly, with the help of Kiku, got the shirt off the other. Arthur looked down at the assassin's chest and saw some signs that Kiku was starting to get muscle there. There was also no trace of fat at all on him.

Kiku felt uncomfortable underneath Arthur's gaze. He could not help, but feel like a piece of meat being held in front of a starving lion. Arthur snapped out of his trance state and started to kiss and suck on Kiku's pale white neck. The Asian was unable to hold in a moan that was caused due to the amount of pleasure Arthur was sending through Kiku's small body.

Arthur decided to travel further down Kiku's body leaving small butterfly kisses on as much bare skin that Arthur could manage. While doing this one of Arthur's hands slowly and gently stroked one of Kiku's sides up and down causing the small Asian to moan loudly.

Once Arthur's mouth reached Kiku's black boxers he moved his head back up and placed his mouth round Kiku's left nipple. Kiku's head lifted off the bed and he gasped out in pure pleasure. Kiku's hands had once again found there way back into Arthur's messy, blonde hair and gently pulled on it, which caused Arthur to groan sending vibrations through Kiku's pink, erect nipples. Kiku's body seemed to start reacting on its own and started to shake violently due to the pleasure and hormones coursing there way through his body.

Kiku wasn't able to take anymore of this blissful torture and bucked up his crotch which hit Arthur's own. Arthur lifted up his head and let out a long drawn out moan, which cause the Asian to do the same movement again. Kiku took his chance and quickly connected their lips together again. Arthur slowly melted into the kiss and lowered his groin and rubbed and pressed it against the assassin's. This caused the pair of them to moan out rather loudly.

The pair of them were so enticed with the other and what they were doing that they did not hear the door open "Arthur, I wanted to make sure that you were alr-" Francis cut himself off when he saw the two men on the bed.

The two of them quickly broke the kiss and Arthur stares at Francis with his face a bright pink colour due to both embarrassment and anger. Kiku on the other hand wrapped the kimono he was once wearing around him like a towel with his cheeks also a bright pink colour. "It is not what you think." Kiku stated

Francis just laughed at the other's comment and replied "It looks like you were making out with the captain mon ami, and I have one question for the pair of you. Can I join in?"

Kiku cheeks went an even darker shade of pink, however before Kiku got change to answer he watched as Arthur picked up one of the large pillows off the bed and threw it at Francis. The pillow smacked the Frenchman right in the face and then said "I take that as a no then."

Arthur went to move off the bed to strangle his first mate, but Francis quickly turned on his heels and ran out of the room slamming the door behind him.

Kiku gently pushed Arthur off him, which Arthur made easy, so that he was laid at the side of Kiku. Kiku turned slightly to see that Arthur had his eyes closed, Then suddenly the Brit's eyes opened and look at Kiku. "I'm sorry about Francis. He can be a right git at times as you could probably tell."

"It is fine. To be truthful I just wish to sleep at this moment of time. I am extremely tired."

Arthur nodded in agreement and gently kissed Kiku on the forehead tenderly which Kiku smiled at. "I love you, Kiku." Stated Arthur.

Arthur then wrapped Kiku in his arms and slowly closed his eyes. Kiku made himself comfortable in Arthur's embrace and whispered out "Watashi mo anata o aishite, Arthur." Kiku then closed his eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep in the strong arms of his old childhood friend and the love of his life.

**That's it. I am really happy with how this came out and I hope you enjoy it as well, please R and R. Oh and the translation for the last thing Kiku said is "I love you too, Arthur." in case you were wondering**.


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